Cree Develops New GaN Devices

DURHAM, N.C., Dec. 24 -- Cree Inc. announced it has developed a new class of gallium nitride (GaN) power transistors that produce a continuous wave (CW) power density of 32 W/mm and 55 percent power added efficiency (PAE) at 4 GHz. Cree said these same devices produced a CW power density of 30 W/mm and 50 percent PAE at a higher frequency of 8 GHz.

Cree said it has demonstrated GaN high-electron mobility transistor (HEMT) power transistors with almost three times the power density and five points higher PAE than previously demonstrated in the industry. The improvements were developed in programs funded in part by the Office of Naval Research and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and involved Cree research teams both in Durham, N.C. and at the company's Santa Barbara Technology Center.

"With its much higher power density over conventional gallium arsenide (GaAs) HEMTs, GaN had already demonstrated the potential to become a dominant device technology for future commercial and military systems," said John Palmour, Cree's executive vice president of advanced devices. "Achieving a power density over 30 W/mm, however, launches this technology into an entirely different realm."

Cree said that in addition to developing discrete GaN transistors, it plans to offer GaN monolithic microwave integrated circuits as an extension to its silicon carbide MMIC foundry service announced earlier this year.

Cree is an advanced semiconductor company that uses SiC, GaN and silicon materials technology to produce new and enabling semiconductors. Its products include blue, green and ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes, near-UV lasers, radio frequency and microwave devices, and power switching devices. Applications include solid-state illumination, optical storage, military RF systems, wireless infrastructure and power switching.